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The Wounded Sky
The ''Enterprise leaps beyond our galaxy -- into the deadly void of the universe.'' Summary ;From the book jacket: :A pretty alien scientist invents the intergalactic inversion drive, an engine system that transcends warp drive -- and the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS ''Enterprise]] will be the first to test it! The Klingons attempt to thwart the test, but a greater danger looms when strange symptoms surface among the crew -- and time becomes meaningless.'' :Now Captain Kirk and his friends face their greatest challenge -- to repair the fabric of the universe before time is lost forever. Chapter One Kirk is frustrated at Federation and Starfleet politics, awaiting news of which starship is to be selected as test-vehicle for the inversion drive, a new concept in space travel propulsion. A communiqué from Starfleet Command arrives, revealing Enterprise has been selected. The ship proceeds to the starbase at the planet Hamal. Enterprise is to prepare to leave the galaxy. Chapter Two Enterprise puts into port at Starbase 18, orbiting Hamal, in the Alpha Arietis system. Chapter Sixteen A fleet of Federation starships greets Enterprise home'' Background *This novel's premise was extensively rewritten to become the TNG episode "Where No One Has Gone Before." *Diane Duane's first Star Trek novel, this book introduces many supporting characters who would appear in her later TOS-era novels and comics. *Although the stardate given for Kirk's communique was 9250.00, this novel is apparently supposed to take place in the final years of the TOS-era five-year mission, even though stardates beginning with a "9" weren't used until the 2290s in canon productions. *In the final chapter, the fleet of ships greeting Enterprise was said to include a number of "heavy cruisers of her own class." While it seems unlikely they were all ''Constitution''-class, they may belong to a similar heavy cruiser design, so as not to contradict the concept that there were only about 12 Constitution''s in service in the 2260s. The text of the novel states there are 22 heavy cruisers in Starfleet service at the time. Characters Regular and recurring characters ; James T. Kirk : ''Enterprise captain. ; Spock : Half-Vulcan Enterprise exec and science officer. ; Leonard H. McCoy : Enterprise surgeon. ; Montgomery Scott : Enterprise chief engineer. ; Uhura : Enterprise communications officer. ; Hikaru Sulu : Enterprise helmsman. ; Pavel A. Chekov : Enterprise navigator. ;K's't'lk : Child/creation of K't'lk. ::Reappears in Spock's World. ;Mahásë : Starfleet lieutenant, beta shift communications officer subordinate to Uhura. ;Harb Tanzer : Chief of recreation aboard the ''Enterprise. Other characters ;Katha'sat : Starfleet commodore in command of Starbase 18. He was a Hest. ;K't'lk : Born around 1406, Hamalki scientist who led the creation of inversion drive. ;Rhonda S. Halloran : Starfleet vice admiral stationed on Earth, she relayed news of Enterprise being selected to Kirk. ;Klingon captain : Female captain of the IKS Kaza, flagship of the fleet which ambushed Enterprise. After a running battle with over half-a-dozen Klingon warships, Enterprise was hailed by Kaza's captain, advising them to kill their helmsman so that the afterlife would know which ship's crew to expect next. Mentioned ; B't'kr : Hamalki scientist who was a contributor to the inversion drive design. ;Sivek : Vulcan scientist who was a contributor to the inversion drive design. ;T'pask : Vulcan scientist who was a contributor to the inversion drive design. References ;Alpha Arietis : Spectral class KO star, primary of Hamal, location of Starbase 18. ;IKS Amak (KL-02) : Klingon warship, part of the ambush force that attempted to interrupt the test of the inversion drive by attacking Enterprise. Amak was lured into the corona of the star 109 Piscium, following Enterprise. Attempting to turn too sharply, Amak overstressed its hull and imploded. ;USS Arizona : Defender-class Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;[[USS Armstrong|USS Armstrong]] : Cutter type Federation starship. ;USS Bismarck : Defender-class Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;USS Challenger : Federation starship. Kirk recognized the Challenger while entering port at Starbase 18. ;USS Condor : Federation starship. Kirk recognized the Condor while entering port at Starbase 18. ;USS Constitution : Federation starship, a light cruiser. ::Oddly, the ''Constitution would presumably be a heavy cruiser, if it was truly the prototype of the class Enterprise. Its possible the ship had been replaced or modified into a light cruiser. ;code 064 : Starfleet communications protocol for bad news sent by a flag officer ;Coma B patrol corridor : Area of space the Enterprise was in when recalled for the inversion drive tests. ;USS Dataphda : Defender-class Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;Defender-class : Type of Federation starship, a multi-hulled battleship. Defender''s were so large, Starfleet traffic codes required these ships to maintain an eight kilometer limit in ship formations. Seven of these vessels assembled in the fleet to greet ''Enterprise home. ;USS Divine Wind : Defender-class Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;USS Eilonwy : Federation starship. Kirk recognized the Eilonwy while entering port at Starbase 18. ;elective mass inversion apparatus : Central component to the propulsion system known as "inversion drive." ;IKS Enekti (KL-66) : Klingon warship, part of the ambush force that attempted to interrupt the test of the inversion drive by attacking Enterprise. Enekti was destroyed when Sulu's aggressive piloting lured Enekti into attacking, overstressing its structural integrity field, shearing off a nacelle. ;USS Erinnye : Carrier type Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;Eseriat : Humanoid species with craggy facial features, their skin, hair and eyes are all solid gray. Lt. Mahásë was Eseriat. ;USS Henrietta Leavitt : Federation starship assigned by Vice Admiral Halloran to replace Enterprise in the Coma B patrol. ;Hamal : Fourth planet orbiting Alpha Arietis, home of the Hamalki species and the location of Starbase 18. ;Hamalki : Species native to the Alpha Arietis system. ;Hest : Plural "Hestv," a humanoid species from Rukbah V. ;Hilbert field torus : Construct which Scotty ordered built in main engineering. After two weeks of assembly work, Scott had it removed to make way for the inversion apparatus. ;USS Hypsipyle : Carrier type Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;USS Inaieu : Defender-class Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ::Inaieu would appear next in "My Enemy, My Ally." ;USS Indomitable : Heavy cruiser class Federation starship. Kirk recognized Indomitable entering port at Starbase 18, and later the vessel was one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;inertrogen : An apparently inert gaseous element used in storing artwork. ;[[USS Intrepid (23rd century)|USS Intrepid]] : Heavy cruiser class Federation starship, this replacement for the previous Intrepid was one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. Her shields were keyed to flare blue, the flag code for a home-port of Vulcan. ::This ship would appear again in Duane's later novel "My Enemy, My Ally." This is presumably the same replacement ''Intrepid mentioned as being under construction in the Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens novel "Prime Directive." In My Enemy, My Ally, the Intrepid is described as a prototype for the modifications seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture ;inversion drive : New form of propulsion to be tested by Enterprise, providing instantaneous travel anywhere in the galaxy, and beyond. ;USS Isshasshte : Heavy cruiser class Federation starship, Isshasshte was one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. Her shields were keyed to flare pale blue, the flag code for a home-port of Deneb. ;Jane's Fighting Starships : Publication. Kirk mused the assembled fleet greeting them home looked like the holo-foldout of this 23rd century version of Jane's Fighting Ships. ;IKS Kaza (KL-8) : Klingon warship, with a female captain, part of the ambush force that attempted to interrupt the test of the inversion drive by attacking Enterprise. ;USS John F. Kennedy : Heavy cruiser class Federation starship, Kennedy was one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. Her shields were keyed to flare yellow, the flag code for a home-port of Earth. ;IKS Kj'khrry (KL-14) : Klingon warship, part of the ambush force that attempted to interrupt the test of the inversion drive by attacking Enterprise. ;IKS Kytin (KL-55) : Klingon warship, part of the ambush force that attempted to interrupt the test of the inversion drive by attacking Enterprise. ;USS Lookfar : Federation starship. Kirk recognized the Lookfar while entering port at Starbase 18. ;USS Marya Morevna : Carrier type Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;IKS Menekku (KL-96) : Klingon warship, part of the ambush force that attempted to interrupt the test of the inversion drive by attacking Enterprise. ;USS M'hasien : Defender-class Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;USS Milton Humason : Federation starship. Kirk recognized the Humason while entering port at Starbase 18. ;nhwe : Hestv liquor, containing a neuroprocessor hormone. ;IKS Okuv (KL-782) : Klingon warship, part of the ambush force that attempted to interrupt the test of the inversion drive by attacking Enterprise. ;[[USS Potemkin (NCC-1657)|USS Potemkin]] : Heavy cruiser class Federation starship. Potemkin was one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. Her shields were keyed to flare blue, the flag code for a home-port of Earth. ;USS Queen Christina : Carrier type Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;USS QE III : Federation starship. Kirk recognized the QE III while entering port at Starbase 18. ::May be named after a Queen Elizabeth III, or be the third ship to be named ''Queen Elizabeth, as with the passenger ship QE-2.'' ;USS Raptor : Federation starship that was Vice Admiral Halloran's first choice for the inversion drive test. ;Recreation : Department aboard Enterprise in charge of the recreation deck, and the morale of the crew. The recreation chief was Lt. Tanzer, a medical officer subordinate to Dr. McCoy. ;Recreation room : Area on the Enterprise set aside for crew gatherings and interaction, and relaxation. Harb Tanzer was putting up a forest hologram in the recreation room. ;USS Rodger Young : Defender-class Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;Rukbah system : Star system, location of the Hestv civilization. This system is also known as Omega Cygni. ;Rukbah V : Planet, homeworld of the Hestv. ;Starbase 18 ( ): Federation starbase, a station in the Alpha Arietis system, 200 million km from Hamal. An oblong space station, Starbase 18 was cigar shaped, and built with elaborate golden spires and architecture. Kirk found the design very alien, full of crystal and mirror finish metal surfaces. See: Federation starbases. ;USS ''Surak : Heavy cruiser class Federation starship, Surak was one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. Her shields were keyed to flare blue, the flag code for a home-port of Vulcan. ;USS Tao Feng : Heavy cruiser class Federation starship, Tao Feng was one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. Her shields were keyed to flare blue, the flag code for a home-port of Earth. ;Tegmenir : Species which had discovered humanity through a single object, a chair. Kirk remembered this example when remembereing the folly of characterizing a species by their design or architecture. Apparently the Tegmenir got the wrong idea about humans, based on the chair. ;USS Thermopylae : Starfleet Engineering vessel. ;USS T'Lara : Starfleet Engineering vessel. ;IKS Tukab (KL-94) : Klingon warship, part of the ambush force that attempted to interrupt the test of the inversion drive by attacking Enterprise. ;USS Valkyr : Carrier type Federation starship, one of those assembled to greet Enterprise back home. ;veriglas : An apparently transparent synthetic material used in storing artwork. Wounded Sky, The de:Der verwundete Himmel